Author Christian Belz.......Joyce oroz

Today I want to talk about a fellow Cozy Cat Press Author, Christian Belz. He has been a practicing architect in Metro Detroit for 28 years, with experience in retail, educational, and industrial projects. He is Vice President of Detroit Working Writers. He won the Grand Prize in Aquarius Press's 2011 Bright Harvest Prize for his short story "Chambers". Christian's fiction has appeared inWriters' Journal,The Story Teller Magazine, and Wicked East Press's anthology:Short Sips, Coffee House Flash Fiction Collection 2. His poetry has been published inWestWard Quarterly and Yes, Poetry.Here is a typical review of Mr. Belz' book, The Accused Architect. By the way, ALL of his reviews have five stars!Ken Knoll, the main character, elicits empathy and is most likeable in this murder mystery sprinkled with intriguing, romantic interludes. Characters are varied, interesting and believable. Being an architect himself, the author uses his penchant for detail to assist the reader's ability to envision each scene and experience the implied ambience. The pace of activity and panoplay of events provides for a creative intertwining of plot elements. This novel was a nighttime page turner for me, and I look forward to future publications written by Christian Belz.

Christian, was there someone, something or an event in your life that set you on the road to being an author?

My dad had several books published. During my teen years he was always working on new projects, and I found it contagious. At age 14 I wrote my first book, hoping that it would impress a girl, but she was more interested in the athletes. During high school, I wrote mystery stories and submitted them to Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Magazines, but I didn’t get a story published until I was fifty-two (and being published by those magazines remains a dream).

Please tell us what you like about writing and what bugs you about it.

I am taken with the rhythm of words and phrases, clever or thought provoking lines, and stories that weave events into an “ah-ha!” climax. Working with a rough compilation of words on the page and polishing them until they fall into the right order, tone, and meaning is the greatest feeling.

I hate writing a first draft cold. Sitting at a blank screen and writing is so frustrating! That’s why I love planning out stories on index cards. I write an idea or phrase on one, then another. I write other cards to ‘fill in the blanks’ and reorder the cards repeatedly until it becomes a story. Only then do I sit down and write. The focus is on developing the idea, not the expression of that idea in words. It’s a beautiful thing. Check out my video on this process. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6pyViYIy-o

How long have you been writing books and what other writing do you do?

During my teen years, I wrote two books, neither of which saw the light of day. The Accused Architect was published earlier this year by Cozy Cat Press. It is the first book in a series of Ken Knoll Architectural Mysteries. I also love writing short stories, and have won some contests, and I enjoy writing poetry, too.

Tell us about your protagonist. Is she--he a lot like you? What are his assets and weaknesses?

Ken Knoll is an average guy, and an architect like me. His creativity as an architect translates nicely to investigative skills in solving the murder. He’s level headed and thoughtful, but needs to be right. He doesn’t like to be told what to do, and has disagreements with his boss. He takes a stand for improving his community by buying run-down homes, fixing them up, and moving to the next one. His kindness gets him in trouble with his girlfriend, as he gives up his newly renovated house—on Christmas—to a school friend from out of town that needs a place to stay.